July 2014

22nd July 2014 - Scotland for Mountain Ringlet...again!

Another two day window of opportunity between work shifts and, unlike the previous attempt, the weather was forecast to be utterly beautiful over Ben Lawers on both days. I couldn't afford to ignore another attempt for Mountain Ringlet. This had to be the time I skore, I mean it simply had to be - didn't it? Read on.....just read on.....

This time I did things sensibly. I finished work and hit the motorways after rush hour was done and dusted. I made it into Lancashire before finding a quiet spot and kipping in the back of the van once more. The back of that van feels like a proper...

5th July 2014 - Scotland for Mountain Ringlet!

I had a two day window between work shifts in which to try for Mountain Ringlet in its short flight period. Mountain Ringlet is the last mainland species of resident butterfly that I've still to see. I've tried for it twice before, but missed both times. Would this be third time lucky? I didn't really fancy ticking this elusive beast at one of its English sites so decided to head on up into the fittingly spectacular countryside of my ancestral motherland - and that meant Ben Lawers!  I was busy on the Friday morning so couldn't set off until after lunchtime. Stupidly this meant travelling...

29th June 2014 - Portland Bill, Dorset.

Just a quick overnighter, we didn't arrive until after 8pm. Had a quick chat with John Martin (he's only the top plant and bird lister on this site!) before retiring early with the missus. The next morning we ambled around The Bill area finding quite a few Pale Flax (lifer!) and a handful of Lulworth Skippers near The Pulpit pub. A patch of Bastard Toadflax was flowering but no sign of the associated shieldbug, although I've seen it here before.

We bumped into John again just as we were leaving who was keen to put me onto Dorset's sole surviving original plant of Wild Asparagus. I...

21st June 2014 - Patchurst with Graeme

After a quick burst of FB messaging with Graeme I found myself invited down to Patchurst Marsh near Wartling in Sussex. It took me a couple of hours to get there, by which time Graeme was already halfway through his surveywork. In true Graeme-style he wasted absolutely no time and asked if I needed this, needed that, had I seen the other before? So within moments I had Sea Club-rush and Hairy Buttercup pointed out (both lifers, although I thought I'd seen the buttercup already) followed by Tubular Water-dropwort and Meadow Barley a little while later.

Graeme was suffering from a...

18th June 2014 - Norfolk Dunes

Finished work, waited for rush hour to finish, then hit the motorways. My initial idea was to blitz through Holme Dunes for some Natterjack action under the cover of darkness. I duly arrived at 11pm and went out for a wander. No toad noise, just a few Oyks, high up Dunlin and what sounded like a begging Barn Owlet. Hmmm....I'd try again in the morning. I returned to the van, drove eastwards a few miles to a quiet spot and was soon kipping in the back. 

So first light was spent wandering around Stiffkey Saltmarsh staring at unfamiliar plants! Never really done much in the way of...

May 2014

OK, so I'm a little behind in the blogging updates! Bear with me...

I spent the entirety of May in New Zealand, somewhere I've always wanted to visit. Luckily for me, I failed to clear up on the endemic birds so darnit I'll just have to go back there someday :) 

New Zealand isn't especially relevent to this PSL site so I won't go into massive detail, I'll just give a brief overview. For me it was primarily a birding trip, my wife had different priorities so compromises were very definitely made. Highlights include a pelagic trip out from Kaikoura where we saw 7 species of...

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